The X Factor USA Season 2 – And Then There Were 8

As far as I can tell, this isn’t a double elimination week. At least Mario didn’t tell us it was.

Now that we’re down to eight, we need to do away with the two hour show. It allowed for longer video packages and story telling, which is probably more important than the actual performances when it comes to making the acts stars if they are done well. But, if the video packages aren’t interesting, it can hurt the show a lot. And they stretched the heck out of this show.

You did get to learn a few tidbits about the performers. Paige mentioned how she wanted to dance more in her performances and Demi’s eyebrows said that when they did a full scale performance in the past, she showed up near the bottom. Paige got her way and her performance this week was more slick and actually better than usual.

But really, the video packages were more harm than good. Can we do away with showing Carly Rose’s brother? He looks like a young Ed Grimley. Also, can we do away with CeCe’s complaining. She can’t figure out that even if she gives it her all, America may still not like her. Isn’t that what the auditions were about? Didn’t Demi tell her that she needs to work on being more likable? This is a surprise to young CeCe?

Please Simon Cowell, can we please make next week’s show ninety minutes?

There was also an all-show tease for Britney’s new video with will.i.am. It’s technically will’s song, but since this is Britney’s show, they didn’t mention that. It wasn’t really much of a song anyway. And if you’re Fergie Ferg, aren’t you mad at will for putting Britney on the song instead of her? My TV wasn’t mad. I’m not sure it can handle Fergie’s face in HD since she broke my last TV.

But the best part of it all was when Mario was introducing the video and running down all of Britney’s accolades, she decided to make this face:

Was she crying? Nope. She just cringed because she didn’t want to see herself on the big screen.

Performances Of The Night

I don’t think any of the performances were great. The night featured a bunch of 6s and 7s. No one was all that terrible either, save for CeCe Frey (though, don’t tell her because she gave 100%!). But, if I was to name the top three, this is how I’d do it.

Emblem3 performed another predictable ditty with “I’m A Believer”. They were the closest to their apex than anyone else on the evening. But like Demi’s eyebrows said, they do need to switch it up a bit before they get too stale. The fact that they’re tremendously talented allows them to skate.

Fifth Harmony’s performance of Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” worked perfectly as a girl group song. For a second, I was thinking to myself about who originally performed the song. Was it Destiny’s Child? Allure? Eden’s Crush? And then I remembered it was Kelly, who really sung the hell out of it. Sometimes I can’t tell if all of Fifth Harmony is singing equally outside of the solos. But I really don’t care. Their dynamic is excellent.

Finally, I enjoyed Paige Thomas Rick Rolling all of us with her performance of “Never Going To Give You Up”. It wasn’t really her sultry singing that made the performance. It was her look. She looked like a mix between Whitney Houston from the “I’m Your Baby Tonight” video and Janet Jackson in her “Black Cat” days. Well, with Toni Braxton’s haircut. I do have a feeling though that even though she did as good of a job as she’s going to do on this type of show, she will probably be in the bottom two.

Of course, Carly Rose had great vocals, but her name might as well have been Carly Yawn Sonenclar with her Adele rendition. Also, Britney thinks Diamond White is Lil’ Whitney as she gave her another Whitney song. Diamond made it fun, but it was forgettable.

Were There Any Duds?

It’s not like it’s fun putting CeCe as a dud every week. Okay, maybe it’s a little fun. But I’d rather her not be bad. At least her sass was back which was sorely missed. If we’re going to have to sit through watching her sing, at least she can be sassy again rather than sad and mopey.

Vino Alan was close to being a dud, but LA changed his song at the last second, he performed it like a professional even if it probably wasn’t the best for him, and he did it with a smile. That’s why the dude is always high on the popularity list.

Who Improved Their Stock?

Paige may have improved her stock, but I don’t think anyone else did. I feel like the votes will still trend similarly. Did Emblem3 do enough to get into the top three? I don’t think so, but it could be close.

Who Hurt Themselves?

If anyone hurt themselves, it could be Vino. But even at that, he’s way too easy to like to fall to the bottom two.

(I’m eliminating the Khloe Watch since she was okay tonight. But I will bring it back if I need to.)

Before we get to my prediction, here was the Britney and will.i.am video:

Who Goes Home?

It’s finally time for CeCe. I feel like a broken record. But I do think we’ll get our CeCe and Paige showdown. Paige will win this one, but she’s just about all out of lives too and I expect her to be gone in the next three weeks.

8 comments

She’s a gif maker’s dream. There are several websites out there that just post random Britney Spear’s gifs. I’ve posted most of the best ones, but now, whenever there’s a good Britney face, I’m searching for the gif!

Steph says:

Nov 29, 2012

LOLZ at Brit Brits face. I can’t get over her eyebrows, why did they abandon her face and why hasn’t her makeup artist given her prosthetic ones?

I think there will be another double-elimination. Having said that, I think Diamond, Paige and CeCe will be in the bottom three, although Vino is deserving of that given his horrible uncomfortable performance. LOVED Paige, but this may be too little, too late.

[…] can put that one on LA Reid. There’s no way that Vino Alan should’ve been in that spot. LA made a last second song choice change that resulted in Vino giving his worst performance of the season after being ranked highly during […]

PingPong says:

Dec 6, 2012

I hate to admit this but the only song I ever liked by Vino Alan was his audition piece “Trouble”. After that he just slowly lost his appeal to me and I started focusing on other contestants. Simon had it right when he talked about the reggae portion of the song he performed: it was awful and didn’t work. You just never know with The X Factor so I’ve always got my DISH Hopper set to record the show each week. The Hopper has the PrimeTime Anytime feature and it automatically records everything on the big four networks so I don’t have to worry about missing anything. I was a bit surprised about Vino’s elimination. He was ranked number three this week and was sent home. My DISH co-worker was surprised by Paige’s elimination because he thought she did really well on her performance. I have to say that she definitely seemed to connect with the crowd a lot better than she has in the past but it was only a matter of time. The real question is how is CeCe still on the show? She screamed her way through “Lady Marmalade” and I actually put the TV on mute. You’re right, it’s no fun always putting her as the bad one but if it’s happening week after week that should mean something. Am I the only one that is tired of her screeching on camera? As far as Emblem3 goes, I’m just going to keep my opinion to myself.